Alchemical Symbolism in the VMS

[Barbrey]

The critter of VMs You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is an interesting potential example of the artist's 'sophistication' -aka trickery, which includes the use of information that may not be known to the investigator.

The VMs critter looks like a "whatever". Pick what you like of the various interpretations. However, this totally misses the point of the cosmic code shift, which is not to rely entirely on appearance.

The critter itself is drawn just above some 'interesting' line patterns. These lines are key to the representation but were not properly recognized. Heraldry defines this line pattern as "nebuly", derived from Latin, meaning 'cloudy'. Nebuly line patterns form the basis for many variations of wolkenbands (cloud bands), one of several ways medieval artists created cosmic boundaries between human and divine, both Christian and classical. The VMs artist also used a nebuly line in the illustration of the cosmos, confirming the interpretation.

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Interpretation of the critter might go in any direction. Interpretation of the critter and the line is different. The nebuly line represents a cosmic boundary. Only one interpretation of the critter belongs with a cosmic boundary. That is the representation of the Agnus Dei.

Once again, ninja forces hit the archives. And then, there is the matter of the third part of the VMs critter representation, which is the part below the nebuly lines. The most interesting discovery was BNF Fr. 13096 f 18. It shows red droplets which appear to be blood. Besides the identification, there is a structural correspondence. The lamb is on one side of the boundary and the droplets are on the other side. Other depictions of lambs that show blood seem to keep the blood inside the boundary.

Despite this ms,, Apocalypse of S Jean, having an early date - 1313, it was later recorded in the library of the Dukes of Burgundy. And as of 1430, the Duke of Burgundy had established the Order of the Golden Fleece, an interpretation of the VMs critter proposed long before the nebuly line interpretation. In the same way that the VMs cosmic illustration puts a version of the BNF Fr. 565 cosmos inside a Shirakatsi wheel, or mythical Melusine in place of the generic mermaid of Harley 334, here the Golden Fleece has been superimposed on the Agnus Dei.

Burgundy also had the Valois connection to Melusine. Melusine is mentioned as a table decoration at the Feast of the Pheasant. The pairing replication of the Golden Fleece in the VMs has been linked to a creature in the VMs mermaid's pool, and the mermaid is Melusine of Luxembourg.

I do think it’s the Agnus Dei and I’m well aware of nebuly lines. However, the emphasis in this illustration is all on the creature’s exaggeratedly scalloped back. It’s the focal point. Why?  It could be the Golden Fleece, but then why exaggerate the lines of the back.  In the context of a sacrificial lamb, this is the body of Christ and Christ was scourged before dying. So the fleece lines are highly exaggerated to take on both meanings of a sacrificed sheep and a scourged Christ. My question in this context was, if scourging, why? I found my answer in pseudo-Arnaldus and three other symbols that were out of place in the VMs Ovid stories. They are a set that speaks to the identification of mercury with Christ, a very well-known motif in alchemy in later years but it began formally with pseudo Arnaldus.